322 BIRDS OF THE NEW YORK CITY REGION 



NOTE: The Southern Parula Warbler (Compsothlypis a. 

 americana) has been credited to this region by Ridgway 

 (Birds of North and Middle America, Vol. II, p. 482), who re- 

 ferred breeding birds from eastern Long Island to this sub- 

 species. Subsequently W. DeW. Miller (Auk, 1909, p. 309) 

 advanced excellent reasons for disagreeing with this determina- 

 tion, and the A. O. U. Committee in the last edition of the 

 Check-List adopted the same viewpoint. Eaton, however, in 

 1914 restored this race to the list of New York State birds, 

 advancing no new arguments or evidence. I have been over 

 the available material, and agree fully with Miller's conclu- 

 sions. 



CAPE MAY WARBLER (Dendroica tigrina) 

 The Cape May Warbler was formerly the prize of the 

 spring migration, and a glimpse of an adult male in May gave 

 the enthusiast an indescribable thrill of exultation. In the 

 fall, in the Hudson River Valley especially, immature birds 

 were occasionally not uncommon. These days have passed, 

 and while the bird's trim beauty is perennially appreciated, 

 all excuse for a thrill has gone. From 1909 on, this Warbler 

 has been a regular transient in our area, though its numbers 

 vary considerably from year to year. In spring only one or 

 two males will be recorded in poor Warbler years, while it- 

 might almost be called common in years when Warbler? are 

 abundant, and there are more than the usual number of 

 waves. Although the charm of rarity has departed, certain 

 things still make it a marked species in spring. I have never 

 known it to arrive except on the biggest waves of the season. 

 It will often linger for days in the same group of trees, long 

 after the other Warblers with which it arrived have moved on. 

 It is almost never recorded after the height of the migration, 

 and females are strangely rare. In the fall the bird is fre- 

 quently observed anywhere from the last days of August to 

 the middle of October, and is now one of the commoner 

 species. The identification of adults at this season presents 

 110 special difficulty. The distinctly yellow sides of the head 



